Grad School had better be worth it....

Those of you who follow me on facebook may already know most of what this post is about. Thursday evening, we went to look at houses with our agent. We looked at probably 10 houses. We found one that we loved. It didn't have "everything" but it had almost everything, and we were happy with it. We wanted it, and we wanted it badly. Asking price: $129,900.

Jonny and I discussed it Thursday night and decided that we wanted to offer the asking price, if the seller would make a few updates for us and pay all closing costs. On Friday, I called a lender to get preapproval so we could put in an offer. Long story short, we didn't qualify for that amount. Collectively, between the two of us, we *should have* qualified, but because of the housing market, lenders have toughened their criteria. Jonny not being full time, and only working at his part time job for 3 months meant that they would not count his income in the approval process at all. So therefore, it was all on me. Well, I didn't qualify for that amount by myself because of my student loans, and when they are going to come out of deferment and be due. Gee, thanks grad school.

I really do understand it from the lender's point of view - I just wish they would have counted Jonny's income because that is how much on the fence I was being able to qualify.

But I guess it's a sign that it's not meant to happen yet - or at that price. Truthfully, that was just a smidge over what I really wanted to pay. The problem is that of the other homes we looked at Thursday night that were lower in price, I was really not impressed. I don't mind a little bit of elbow grease, but it needs to be almost move in ready, and if I'm going to have to replace ALL the carpet because it smells like cat piss, it had better be a bargain. I'm not going to pay alot of money if I'm going to have to put alot more money in to it to make it work. I don't mind ugly paint. I don't mind ugly 70s wood paneling on the walls. I dunno - I really don't think our wishes are unrealistic in our price range. I know there has got to be something out there in the low 100s that has potential. And I'm determined to find it.

I thought our realtor would be upset with us, but she wasn't. In fact, we saw her at church this morning and said she would be in touch with us later this week. She said she had other agents looking for us, and she said she is determined to help us find what we're looking for.

Nonetheless, we're going to keep on plan of paying as much of our 2 remaining non-student loan debts off as quickly as we can (hopefully by Christmas) so that if we haven't found a home by the first of the year, those 2 debts will not factor into our preapproval process, and hopefully we'll have more options available to us. On one hand, I've learned that the kind of home we "really" want,is probably most realistically in the 130-150 price range, but on the other hand, there just might be a diamond in the rough out there....perhaps a foreclosure that the bank just wants off it's books....with some cosmetic upgrades, it would be good as new.

So, we continue to look, while continuing to pay down our debt. The right one will come along, and when it does, we'll be ready for it.

House Hunting

It's been a while since I wrote, but I wanted to give you all an update. Jonny and I are still hard charging to get out of debt, but we made a decision to go ahead and start looking at houses. The market is awesome right now for buyers, but things are starting to turn back up - thankfully. However, we realize that we really do need to go ahead and start getting our feelers out there if we want to make this happen before the buyers market goes away.

We're going in with a mindset that we're not going to settle. Our goal is to get something affordable on my single income alone, especially since his full time job status is up in the air, and we still don't know for certain what he will be doing a year from now. I am hoping that whatever we get, with taxes and everything, our payments will hopefully be about $850 a month, if not less.

We wanted a realtor who was experienced in this area, and we wanted recommendations. I got rec for a lady at our church and we sent her our mile long wish list. She replied "No Problem," and she also understands that we aren't pushing hard core to get into a house right now, unless the right opportunity presents itself. Yeah, we just resigned a lease at our apt, but it's only a 1 month fee to break it, which we could handle.

Miss Mary (the realtor) has already sent us a few listings that she matched to us based on our preferences, and Thursday night, right after work, we are meeting with her to go look at these houses, and maybe a few more. I'm so excited. Jonny's in May-mester right now, and his classes are in the mornings, so we both have the evenings to go look at these together. YAY!

I hate that we've pushed up our plan...I really did want to wait until next Spring. but something - a gut feeling I guess you could say, is telling me that now is the time to do it. The market is picking back up, and I don't want to miss the train. We're not going to get more house than we can afford, but I'm ready for a place to call my own.

If it's meant for us to get one sooner rather than later, we'll know. Just because we're looking doesn't mean it's going to happen right away.

I'll keep you all updated. More to come - I promise.

Update on Buster...

So as I mentioned in the previous post, Jonny had to take Buster to the vet today about his newest lick spot. The good news is, there is no surgery as far as knives and stitches and things like that involved. We're doing 10 laser treatment sessions which are supposed to help disintegrate the spot, heal it up, and somehow affect the skin to where he won't have the urge to lick anymore. Psh, I guess we'll see.

Good news is that I don't have to buy anymore darn Atopica at $50 a box. Doc is switching him to prednisone which is much less expensive ($16 for 4 months worth of pills).

My poor little pain the butt child...Ugh!

When it rains....

...it pours.

 In one swift kick, $2000 I had saved up for the trip to New York next Spring, and AXiD Convention next Summer has been wiped out.

Columbus State didn't disburse Jonny's financial aid this year as he requested them to, and he had no way of knowing that it had been over disbursed for Fall and Spring. Instead of splitting it in 3 installments for Fall, Spring and Summer, they disbursed it in 2 installments for Fall and Spring....So guess who had to come up with $2000 fast, to pay for summer tuition?

The good news is, we had it, and we didn't have to pull out a credit card to go do it, or apply for a personal loan to cover it. It didn't kill us...but that was by far, the biggest chunk of our actual savings that we had at this point, due to the fact that in Baby Step 2, you aren't really "supposed" to save. I guess it's a darn good thing I had been saving that money though, because without it, our alternatives for paying for his summer session didn't look too good.

I'm not worried, I'll build it back up in no time.

Of course, Buster is being a pain in the ass again. Jonny's gotta take him to the vet tomorrow. He's licking at his right back paw - you know, the only back paw he still has. In one week, ONE WEEK, he's licked up a dime size spot on it. Last time, we ignored it because we thought it was like the one he had on his front paw a few months after we got him that ended up being nothing, but after the snowball problem with the cancer that it ended up being, we're taking him in ASAP this time. Hopefully, they can stick with with cortisone to make it stop itching, or they can remove the spot before it progresses any further. I'm so tired and frustrated. I love my Buster, but good grief this is alot to deal with.

Which just goes to prove that I am nowhere near ready to have a baby, even though ever since Baby Kallie was born (yes, Anna, I blame you, for letting me hold her when she wasn't even 2 full days old yet), my clock has been screeching at me like a wild banshee. Financially, emotionally, and physically, I cannot do a thing about it right now. So I'll just continue to wait. And wait, and wait.

Jonny and I are reconsidering looking at houses. I'm not sure if it fails under the "we're getting impatient" mentality, or if we just feel like it's finally the right time. I think the market is proving that there are alot of potential homes out there for us that I could easily afford on my income alone, and Jonny's full time status not be an issue. Even still, we don't want to jump the gun. If you know a good real estate agent in the area, please let me know. I don't want some random person who is going to rake us over the coals, or someone who is going to force us to buy right away. I want someone who will let us do this at the pace we set, and show us good deals in the price range we provide, with as many of our wish list items as possible.

Good news for the week: I made a 100% on my first marketing assignment. Woo Hoo! Hopefully I can keep my grades up this term. This two class thing is already stressing me out.